Three-dimensional noughts and crosses type of game

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a three-dimensional noughts and crosses game in which games pieces are placed in attachment means located at the apexes, lines of intersection and upon the generally planer surfaces of a body member, notably a solid or hollow cube, so as to create lines of games pieces which extend in three dimensions across the junction of at least two of the surfaces of the cube.

The present invention relates to a game, notably to a three dimensionalnoughts and crosses type of game.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Noughts and crosses, or tic-tac-toe as it is also known, is a game inwhich two opponents each try to complete a line of three or more noughtsor crosses on a grid layout, whilst at the same time preventing theopponent from completing a line, by each in turn entering a nought orcross respectively on the grid. There are a number of variations of thisgame, but each requires a line of a specified number of either noughtsor crosses (or other pairs of symbols) to be completed. For simplicity,the invention will be described hereinafter in terms of the completionof lines of noughts or crosses.

In order to make the game more challenging, it has been proposed to playthe game in three dimensions on three or more layers, each havingreceptacles laid out in a grid pattern and adapted to receive a colouredmarble or other game piece. However, such truly three dimensional gamesare cumbersome and often complex to play.

I have now devised a simplified form of such a three dimensional gamewhich is compact and simple to play and yet provides a wide number ofpermutations of play.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention provides a game comprising thecombination of:

a. a polygonal three dimensional body member having at least fourexposed contiguous planar surfaces which surfaces intersect along linesof intersection which lines terminate at each end thereof in an apexwhere three or more of said surfaces intersect;

b. a plurality of games piece anchorage points provided on or inassociation with at least three of said surfaces, each anchorage pointbeing adapted to receive and locate a games piece upon said body memberin specified geometric relationship to other games pieces, an anchoragepoint being located at each of at least three of said apices, at leastone anchorage point being located upon each of at least three of saidlines of intersection, and at least one anchorage point being locatedupon each of at least three of said surfaces; and

c. at least two series of games pieces adapted to be received by saidanchorage points.

Preferably, the anchorage points are located symmetrically upon the bodymember and all exposed surfaces of the body member are provided with atleast one anchorage point.

The body member may be of any suitable shape and size. The exposed facesmay thus be of triangular, square, trapezium, hexagon, octagon or othershape. However, it is preferred that the surfaces be of equilateralshape, notably square, hexagon or octagon shape so that the bodypresents a series of uniform surfaces and has symmetry in all three axesso that the game can be played with the body in any orientation.Preferably, the body is a right pyramid, a cube or a right octahedron ordodecahedron.

For convenience, the invention will be described hereinafter in terms ofa cube body member.

Such a body member has six exposed faces and, preferably, all six facesare available for use in playing the game. However, if desired, one facemay be excluded as being the base face upon which the cube rests and, assuch, is not an exposed face for the purposes of playing the game asdescribed below. Each face presents a right square surface whichintersects with two adjacent faces to form a corner of the cube. Thatcorner is an apex of the body member and there are eight such apices tothe cube. Two adjacent surfaces intersect along the lines linking eachat the apices to an adjacent apex to form the side walls of the cube andeach cube has six side walls, including the top and bottom walls of thecube. Each wall can be of any suitable size and colour, but willtypically be from 2.5 to 10 cms square. If desired, the wall may bedished inwardly or outwardly to provided an aesthetic shape to the bodymember, in which case the lines of intersection of the exposed surfaceswill be curved rather than straight. For convenience, the invention willbe described hereinafter in terms of a cube having substantially flatwall surfaces.

The surfaces can be the exposed surfaces of a solid body, for example adie cast, extruded or other moulded plastic cube or a machined wooden ormetal cube. However, the cube may be a hollow member made by linkingtogether six flat square panels of a suitable material to form the sidewalls of the cube. If desired, such a hollow cube can be made by snapfitting the wall panels to one another using suitable securing meansalong each edge of the panel, or by means of a stem or cup extendingnormal to the plane of the panel and engaging with a central supportspider member located within the resultant cube. In a particularlypreferred embodiment, the cube is formed in two halves as hollowmouldings which are a snap fit engagement on one another to form thecomplete cube. For convenience, the invention will be describedhereinafter in terms of a solid cube.

The cube is provided with anchorage points by which games pieces can besecured to the body member. These anchorage points can take a wide rangeof forms, depending upon the nature of the games piece used. Thus, theanchorage point may take the form of a metal disc or the like where thegames piece is provided with a magnetic foot or vice versa; or where,the cube is made from a ferro-magnetic material, the anchorage point cantake the form of a break in the paint or other surface finish to thecube which identifies the position at which such a magnetic games pieceis to be affixed to the cube. The anchorage point may take other forms,for example a disc of the hooked portion of a hook and eye typefastening, the games piece carrying the corresponding eye portion; orvice versa. However, it is preferred to provide the anchorage by meansof the push fit engagement of a stem carried by the games piece in asocket or recess in the body member or vice versa. The game piece may belocked in position by means of a bayonet type mounting, but a frictionpush fit is usually satisfactory.

For convenience, the invention will be described hereinafter in terms ofa games piece having a shank piece which is a friction push fit into asocket in the body member. Such inter-engaging shanks and sockets can beof any suitable size and depth. If desired, where the cube is made froma series of panel members, the shank can carry a radially extending pinor lug and the socket can have a corresponding radial slot so that theshank and its pin can pass through the aperture in the panel provided bythe recess. The games piece can then be locked in position by twistingthe games piece about the longitudinal axis of the shank to carry theradial pin out of register with the radial slot. Alternatively, thesockets can carry circumferential ribs which engage radial ribs on theshank of the games piece to provide a snap fit or screw fit locking ofthe shank in the socket. The shank and the socket are preferably of agenerally circular cross section. However, they may have other forms,for example a squared or triangular cross section, so that the gamespiece adopts a fixed orientation with respect to the body member oncethe stem has been engaged in the socket.

For convenience, the invention will be described hereinafter in terms ofa body member carrying a plurality of circular sockets into which thecylindrical shanks of pins carried by the games pieces engage as afriction push fit.

The game of the invention is characterised by the layout of theanchorage points upon the body member. It has been proposed in U.S. Pat.No. 4,129,303 to form a solid cube and to provide games piece anchoragepoints upon the surfaces of the cube. The anchorage points, are laid outin a conventional grid pattern on each exposed face of the cube withplaying lines joining the anchorage points extending from one face ontoan adjacent face. However, none of the anchorage points are located atthe apices of the cube or on the lines at which one wall of the cubeintersects another. In the present invention, by locating the anchoragepoints at the apices of the body member and at least one on each line ofintersection between adjacent faces of the cube, games pieces may bepositioned on the body member at positions at which they can formcontinuous lines with games pieces located upon two or more adjacentexposed surfaces. In the case of anchorage points located at the apicesof the body member, games pieces located in them can form part of linesof games pieces extending along any one of the adjacent lines ofintersection and/or onto any one of the adjacent exposed faces. As aresult, there is a greater number of possible lines which can becompleted as compared to a cube where the games pieces can be locatedonly in anchorage points within the plan area of each exposed face. In aparticularly preferred embodiment of the invention, anchorage points arelocated one at each apex, one midway along each line of intersection andone centrally upon each exposed surface so as to provide nine possibleanchorage points to each exposed face of the body, with possible line ofgames pieces extending from one exposed face to an adjacent exposedface, extending along a line of intersection and/or onto an adjacentline of intersection via an apex or any combination thereof. If desired,instead of a three by three grid pattern for the locations of theanchorage points as just described, the grid pattern may be asymmetric,for example three by four, or may contain more than three points, forexample a four by four or five by five grid pattern.

For convenience, the invention will be described hereinafter in terms ofthe preferred three by three grid layout just described.

The anchorage points are preferably all the same so that any games piececan be attached to any anchorage point. However, if desired, theanchorage points may be of different types, as when extra points/rewardsare awarded for using an apical anchorage point in a larger layout game.It is also preferred that the exposed faces of the body member all bethe same, although they may be of different colours and/or surfacetextures so that initially only certain games pieces can be attached toa given exposed face so as to provide additional complexity to the game.

The games typically involves attaching two series of games pieces to thebody member by two players in alternate turns in an attempt to create aline of four or more similar games pieces, whilst at the same timeblocking a line being created by the opponent. The series of gamespieces can take a wide range of forms, for example mushroom tops ofdifferent colours, pieces with round or cruciform heads or other morecomplex shapes. As stated above, the games pieces are typically in theform of a pin or stem carrying a distinctive head. If desired, three ormore players may play the game simultaneously using the requisite numberof different series of games pieces.

As stated above, the invention can be applied to a noughts and crossestype game in which players attempt to create a line of their gamespieces whilst blocking anchorage points which would enable theiropponent to create a line of games pieces. The invention may be appliedto variations of such a game, for example where a cross is to be createdby two intersecting lines or where more than one line is to be createdon a body member carrying more than a three by three grid pattern ofanchorage points. The game may also involve capture and/or removal ofopponents games pieces as with draughts or Othello, the jumping ofopponents games pieces as with Chinese Chequers, and the upgrading ofgames pieces when certain positions on the body member are occupied asin Draughts. The invention can be applied to a wide range of such gamesand is not limited to noughts and crosses. Furthermore, the games mayinvolve more than two players or may be played by a sole player.

Whilst the invention has been described above in terms of a game inwhich two players attach games pieces openly to the body member so thatone player can see what attachments have been made by the other player,the invention may be applied to games in which games piece attachmentsare carried out without the other player being able to see whatattachments have been made until a later stage of the game. To this end,it may be desirable to provide the body member with clip on or otherwiseremovable shields which screen surfaces on the body member from view byan opponent.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A particularly preferred embodiment of the game of the invention willnow be described by way of illustration with respect to the accompanyingdrawings in which

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cube carrying the anchorage points asa three by three grid pattern,

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic elevational view of two forms of games piecefor use with the cube of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic cross-section through the cube of FIG. 1showing one form of construction of the cube; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a cube formed from two hollow halves andhaving outwardly convex faces to the cube.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The body member comprises a cube 1 having a series of exposed squarefaces 2, 3, 4, etc. The cube can be machined from a solid block or canbe made from a series of inter-engaging square panels. As shown in FIG.3, these panels 30, 31, 32 can each carry an inwardly directed arm 33terminating in a ball 34. The balls 34 are a snap fit in a centralspider 35 so that the rim 36 of each panel bears against the rim 37 ofan adjacent panel to form a smooth cuboid body.

Each face 1, etc carries a number of anchorage points 10, bothsubstantially centrally upon the face and symmetrically located aboutthe periphery of the face on the apices 20 of the cube and along thelines of intersection 40 of adjacent faces. These anchorage points aresimple cylindrical bores or apertures in the surfaces of the cube 1directed towards the centre point of the cube. If desired, the apices 20and the lines of intersection 40 can be flattened to provide a planarsurface around the anchorage points 10 as shown in FIG. 1. Where thecube is formed from a series of abutting panels 30, etc, the anchoragepoints 10 are formed as semi-circular indentations around the peripheryof each panel so that they register with corresponding indentations onadjacent panels when the cube is assembled to form the anchorage point10. As shown in FIG. 1, the anchorage points 10 are located on a threeby three grid with points located at each apex 20 of the cube, centrallyalong each line of intersection 40 between adjacent faces of the cubeand centrally upon each exposed face of the cube to provide a total oftwenty six anchorage points upon all six surfaces of the cube.

The playing pieces comprise a stem 50 which is a push fit within thebores of the anchorage points 10. At least two series of playing piecesare provided, each being distinguished by the shape and/or colour of thehead 51 carried by the stem 50.

In playing the game, a first player inserts the stem 50 of a playingpiece from the first series into the bore of the anchorage point X atthe centre of one of the lines of intersection 40. This is to ensurethat the first player can be defeated by his opponent. The opponent thenanchors a playing piece from the second series in another anchoragepoint; and so on in alternate moves until one player wins by completinga line of four pieces, at least one of which in located in the anchoragepoint O in the centre of one of the exposed faces of the cube; or allthe anchorage points have been filled without either player creating aline—a draw.

In the form of cube shown in FIG. 4, the exposed faces of the cube areoutwardly convex as shown and the cube is formed by snap fittingtogether two hollow halves of the cube. The joint between the top andbottom halves is shown as circumferential line 60 around the waist ofthe cube. The start point for the game is identified as anchorage pointX. If desired, the lines which each player can build up with his gamespieces can be identified on the surfaces of the cube, for example asscored or painted lines. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, the linescan be identified by raised lines 61 moulded into the surface of thecube during its manufacture.

The cube 1 and the playing pieces 50/51 can be made from any suitablematerials, for example an extruded or injection moulded plastic. Ifdesired, the heads 51 of the playing pieces can be made from wood ormetal, and the stems 50 from another material, for example plastic, toprovide visual variety to the games pieces.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of playing a game in which a playerattaches playing pieces to anchorage points in specified geometricarrangement relative to one another on the external surfaces of the bodymember with the objective of completing a line of playing piecesextending across the surface of the body member, wherein: a. the bodymember is a cube body member having six exposed contiguous planar sidefaces, which faces intersect along twelve lines of intersection, whichlines terminate at each end thereof in an apex where three of said facesintersect to provide eight apices; and b. the anchorage points areprovided externally upon said body member, each anchorage point beingadapted to receive and locate a games piece externally upon said bodymember in specified geometric relationship with respect to other gamespieces attached to the body member; and c. a single anchorage point islocated at each of said eight apices; each of the side faces carries asole anchorage point which is located substantially centrally upon theside face; and a single anchorage point is located substantially midwayalong each of said twelve lines of intersection; characterised in thatd. the objective of the game is for a player to complete a row of fourgames pieces extending over at least two surfaces of the body member incompetition to the other players by attaching playing pieces to theanchorage points on the body member in successive turns with the otherplayers; and e. all the anchorage points are located solely externallyupon the body member.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, characterisedin that two players play the game by attaching games pieces in alternateturns to the anchorage points of the body member.
 3. A method as claimedin claim 2, which involves the capture and removal by one player ofplaying pieces attached to the body member by the other player.
 4. Amethod as claimed in claim 2, which involves the jumping of the otherplayer's playing pieces.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 2, whichinvolves the upgrading of a playing piece when certain anchorage pointson the body member are occupied by that playing piece.